Castle in Vianden

We decided to take a bus to Vianden and see the castle there.  There is a bus stop right outside the hotel and we took the 500 to Diekirch then transferred to the 570.  The trip took a little over an hour.

Vianden is an adorable little town and the castle is restored and a big tourist attraction.

We saw farm equipment all over the roads - I like that this one is parked in front of the church.

Echternach and Mullerthal trail

We got up Monday morning, ate breakfast and relaxed.  I graded papers and Evelyn made travel plans for when her family comes to India at Christmas.  Then we walked across the street to the bus station around noon and paid 2 Euro to take an hour long ride to Echternach, Luxembourg.  I found a good deal for a 4 night stay at the Grand Hotel and it was right next to the Mullerthal trail. We checked in and hit the trail.  I was so excited to put my hiking pants and boots on. I haven't worn them since I hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  I feel powerful in them!! and I don't feel too powerful right now since I am still recovering from Dengue Fever.

The Mullerthal Trail goes all over Luxembourg and is in great shape. We hiked the E1 part of the trail about 6km to Berdorf.

My boots are touching fall leaves!!

We saw some great scenery and enjoyed the act of hiking and breathing in fresh, clean air.

My feet are touching a trail!!!

We got off the trail and walked through corn field lined roads to Berdorf.  We stopped to have a banana split, then hiked a different part of the trail back.

Berdorf

very colorful mushroom

We ate dinner at the Grand Hotel where we are staying.  We had steak and it was delicious!

Echternach is a pretty cute town.

The Grand Hotel where we are staying

Luxembourg City

We arrived in Luxembourg around 7 pm Saturday and went straight to the hotel.  I had basically been up for 2 days with only a couple of naps on the flight from Mumbai. I am also recovering from Dengue Fever!  so I slept a long time.  We are staying at the Empire hotel which is right across from the bus/train station which is convenient.

On Sunday, most things are closed in Luxembourg so the streets were very quiet.  We walked around and just marveled at the clean, crisp air.  The leaves are just starting to change, in a few weeks it will be gorgeous here.

One of our former students, Yuto lives here.  He and his dad came to pick us up at our hotel and we went to their apartment for lunch.  His mom made an amazing lunch and we enjoyed fantastic Japanese hospitality! The more Yuto talked about the school here, the more I considered working here!

We spent the rest of the day walking around and enjoying the fall weather.

10 hour layover in Paris

Evelyn and I decided to go hiking in Luxembourg for fall break.  We flew Air France on the 2:20am flight everybody takes.  It was a nice, uneventful flight and I even got a few 15 minute naps in.  I can't sleep on planes and it is a real problem. Evelyn, on the other hand, slept almost the entire 9 hour flight.

We got to Paris and went through immigration then took the metro to the city.  We had to change trains at one of the stops.  The Paris metro is not as well laid out as London's so it took a bit to find out where we were going.  We found our train and Evelyn stepped on and my foot went on right as her last one left - I was right behind her!!!  but the doors closed and several people and I tried to pull them apart to no avail.  So Evelyn took off in the train and I waited for the next one.

Which wouldn't have been a problem except something happened on the tracks and the train was delayed for 40 minutes.  I was going to travel to the Eiffel tower stop which is where we were headed, but Evelyn got off on the next stop to wait for me.  I didn't not know that.  Thankfully, I noticed her red hair bobbing up and down looking in all the cars for me.  I jumped off and we were reunited and the next train came in a few minutes.  Whew.  It all worked out and I stayed calm, but I was a little nervous - I don't speak a lick of French and Evelyn had the maps with her!

We made it to the Eiffel Tower.  The weather was amazing!!  Bright blue sky, fresh air, and cool temps.

We went to the Louvre to take pictures - we didn't have time to go in.

We got to see Notre Dame.

I never eat street food in India so it was nice to eat it here.  Banana and honey crepe!  We walked all over and saw lots of views of the river, we saw the bridge with the locks (which they have taken down and put on the side).  We took the metro back to the airport for our very short flight to Luxembourg.  We got to see a lot in our layover and it was worth it!

Dengue Fever

I have been in India for four years and every time I get mosquito bites I hope I don't get Dengue Fever.  It is called "bone break disease"  and everyone that gets it make it sounds awful!

It finally happened!

On Thursday, my muscles and joints started to hurt at school and I just assumed it was my lupus throwing a temper tantrum due to too much stress.  After a bit, I felt I was getting a little warm so I went to the nurses office and they said it was 99.5.  The fever got worse at night and I missed school the next day which was a PD day.  My fever was between 101 and 102 all day even with taking advil and paracetomal. On Saturday, I texted the doctor and he said I needed to get tested for malaria and dengue right away.  He sent the lab guy over to get blood and urine and the doctor called that night to say it was definitely Dengue.

There is no medicine for Dengue.  All you can do is let it pass and keep an eye on your blood counts.  Usually its the platelets that have to be watched and if they get too low, you get hospitalized.  Dehydration is a huge concern so he told me to drink 5 liters a day.  On sunday, he came back to see me and said he could tell I was drinking enough water and that being a good patient will keep me out of the hospital.  With this strain of Dengue, the platelets are fine, but the white cell counts get low.  My WBC were 1600, then 1500, then 1400 - He said I could stay at home as long as my WBC stayed above 1000.  The fever lasted until Wednesday, then the rash started.  It burned like fire ants and I couldn't bend my fingers!

Once the rash went away so did the fever and then I was just tired.  I couldn't stand up for more than a few minutes at a time and was exhausted by everything.  I was supposed to go to a professional development workshop for four days this week, but there is no way I could sit and listen all day.  I decided to try to go to school for half a day starting on Tuesday.  It wore me out!  I'm going to go half days for this week and then go back full time after fall break.

I'm fortunate that I got to stay at home.  They don't like to have patients that sick stay home alone.  My maid had left the week before (that is for another post!) so there was no one to check up on me.  It is funny how horrified people were when they found out I had no maid for three weeks!

Thank goodness for co-workers that helped out.  On the first Sunday, Karen and Kylie came over to do my dishes and cook me chicken soup and bring me veggies and fruit.  Gretchen brought me money so I could pay the doctor and blood guy when they came.  Madeline cooked me macaroni and cheese and Carol made me banana bread.  A group of co-workers sent flowers and a big get well card.  The kids missed me a lot too!  It is good to feel missed and wanted.